A Few Misunderstandings
by Marry Chat
Summary: Rena Rouge and Jade Turtle protect the city from harm. Marinette and Adrien are free from the cares of anything other than their school lives, social lives, future, and, of course, each other. Halloween rolls around, and end-October festivities are living up to expectations. Christmas and New Years are approaching, too. (AU where Marinette and Adrien aren't Ladybug and Chat Noir)
1. A Halloween Miracle

**Hey everyone. As you may already know (but I doubt it) my co-author and I are holding a little fic writing competition, with Christmas as the theme (Halloween and Christmas, here).**

 **Y'all gotta comment and like whoever you like the most, and definitely go check hers out as well.**

 **On here, to follow the trend set by my co, T, I'll be called 'C'.**

 **Mine is going to be a little different to hers, as mine with have longer chapters but less of them. Enjoy!**

"Marinette, that's enough of Rose's 'super healthy and not at all alcoholic punch' for you." Alya chided, dressed in a cute black and red polka dotted tu-tu. She plucked the already empty red plastic cup out of Marinette's hand, before looking at her friend and cringing.

At the start of the night, Marinette's costume looked innocent and sweet. A cute costume meant just to have a laugh about.

Now, however, it was far less childish. After Marinette's third cup of Rose's punch, she had discarded her orange and white leggings, as well as her shoes, claiming she was too hot in them.

After the fourth, her hair had been let down, making a mess of blue-black hair around her neck, with white hair-paint streaking through it.

After the sixth, she had removed her cardigan, and taken out the little false teeth that had made her costume less mature in the first place.

By the end, she was left with an orange and black skirt that went to mid-thigh, a skin-tight orange singlet with a white patch on the front that was pretty much see-through, and a pending headache.

Marinette looked at her friend accusingly, pouting her lips that were smudged with orange lipstick.

"Alya, it's not your job to look out for me, don't be silly, you're being silly, silly." That sentence alone took Marinette a full minute to get out, between slurring and hiccupping. _Damn…_ Alya thought. _Rose really needs to tone it down next time…_

"Alyaaaa! You said Adrien would be here!"

"He _is_ here, Nino said so, we just can't find him!" She had to yell over the music. Juleka had promised that the party would be more like a seventh-grade sleepover than a club rave, but, apparently, she had lied.

Lights and music were blaring all around, as well as a smoke machine and a bubble blower, designed to numb the senses until all you could focus on was a bad decision. People were more condensed in the living room (as Juleka hosted the party in her flat) where there was hardly any space to breathe.

Marinette had spent most of the night in the kitchen, where Juleka was content standing with Rose, dedicated drinks bringer, and her girlfriend.

She had been happy to converse with them, until they seemed to have forgotten her presence, and proceeded to suck each other's faces off. Marinette left awkwardly, not wanting to interrupt, also no longer included.

But, the couple reminded her of why she came to the party in the first place. She had sought out Alya (and found her dressed as a ladybug with Nino, who was dressed as what appeared to be a black feline) and asked her if Adrien, the love of her life, was here yet.

Nino had said yes.

"Where?" Marinette shouted, as they were closer to the living room here.

"I don't know, maybe try the living room?" Nino called back. He said something else with a huge grin on his face, but Marinette only made out part of it. Something about Adrien's costume, and not being able to recognise him.

Marinette yelled, "What?"

"He's wearing a costume, he's dressed as Jade Turtle!" Alya called, Marinette still not being able to hear, as they were interrupted by Chloe and Sabrina, bustling past in a frenzy. Chloe seemed to be whispering seductively in her ear, and Sabrina seemed a little excited.

Marinette took that as a que to leave.

After half an hour of searching, she found no sign of her blonde boy. "He was in the kitchen!" Nathanael had told her. "Nah, he was just in the games room." Max said, seemingly completely sober despite having drunk the most there (the guy could drink for hours and never lose his head).

"He was in the living room, dancing with some random chick! I think she's from another school!" Kim said, with approval, "She was hot, too."

Marinette nearly fainted, and raced to the clustered part of the party, tripping over her little shoes with paw prints all over them. When she had arrived, she recognised everyone there, but saw no sign of Adrien. Mylene, Ivan, Kim, and people from other schools. There was one blonde guy – but his hair was all messed up, and the mask he was wearing – _Hah he's dressed as Jade Turtle_ – obscured his face from recognition.

He seemed attractive enough, but not Marinette's type. His eyes were wild and expressive, nothing like Adrien's sorrowful and mysterious ones. She swooned at just the thought of his eyes on her, with the way he always looked like he was hiding something.

From there, Marinette had gotten drunk, removed half her clothing (at the behest of many shouts from the crowd) and tried to forget about him.

Now, she stood, watching, at the edge of the dancing crowd, moving to the rhythm of the beat like one organism moving underwater; as if they couldn't help it. Like there was some force they were victim to that they could not control.

She watched in almost awe, the pink and blue lights melding to become a hypnotic swirl of magenta, the smoke that smelled – more and more as the hour went by – like the tinge of something illicit, and less and less liked it was from the smoke machine.

She found the Turtle, again, wild hair and wild eyes as he ran his hands up and down a brunette girl with bangs and dirty green irises.

With a feeling of defeat, Marinette walked away. She sat on the arm of a couch, drinking another drink that she had picked up from a random table – something she had been told many times not to do.

She watched the couple dance. After a while, Marinette found herself moving her shoulders in the same way the girl did. She had to admit, it seemed to allure to boy. She found herself standing and mimicking the movements, the others around her not seeming to care for her dancing. At first. A few boys came over, and wolf-whistled. Then they invited their friends. Then they invited theirs.

Soon, nearly everyone who was attracted to females was there, with their phone out, watching Marinette. She had simply continued to dance, having fun with her own fluid movements as much as she was with the attention. She vaguely heard someone calling her name – Alya, maybe – but she disregarded it.

People loved it, why should she stop?

And she continued, until she met wild green eyes behind a dark mask and tangled blonde hair. He seemed to have discarded the brunette in favour of watching Marinette dance.

His eyes lit up with _something_ as Marinette singled him out, stepping one foot carefully in front of the other, purposefully moving her hips out and arching her back as she did so.

People whistled and crowed, watching Marinette's performance with high intensity.

Her hands moved over herself as she threw her head back and traced the outline of her own neck, slick with sweat from the heat and proximity.

 _Adrien isn't here, and you're the next most good looking._

Eventually her hands found their way up her own shirt, and she half lidded her eyes as it rode up and exposed her naval. She lightly stroked her fingers over her arms, and made herself shiver.

The song changed, and Marinette found herself moving faster and faster, but just as gracefully. She moved to him, pressing her chest up against him, and looped her arms around his neck. She saw a muscle in his neck twitch and watched his Adam's apple bob up and down.

She dragged her fingers up and down his arms, and watched the muscle in his forearms clench.

Adrien mused over her costume. She wore an orange mask, and was dressed in a costume clearly meant to imitate the famous fox-themed Parisian heroine, Rena Rouge. How fitting.

Eventually, people start to peter away. With Marinette's attention focused on the boy, everyone seemed to realise their show was over. Not only that, but Alya and Nino were sending people away, along with Nathanael, Rose and Juleka.

The boy stood nearly still, moving only his head as she circled around him, tracing her hands up his body. His eyes were far wilder now than she had seem them before.

Her head was swimming. She could hardly remember what the other Marinette would have done in this situation. Would she had been responsible and stopped? Would the other Marinette be too anxious and nervous to even get here?

She took his hand, removing those thoughts from her mind. It was different tonight.

They wound their way through people, and hot bodies pressed up against one another. Eventually, she lead him into a vacant room with a single desk and chair.

Once she shut the door, and locked it, the sounds of the music and shouting was muffled to a quiet thrumming.

"Who are you?" They boy said, in a near predatory way, his voice filling the empty room.

"Ah, no-one important." Marinette replied, turning around and sitting him down in the chair. He nearly growled when she straddled him, looping her hands behind his neck.

"Hardly." He rasped, bringing his hands to her waist.

"Mmm." Marinette drawled, "I must be pretty slick, to have gotten your attention, lover boy."

"Don't flicker your whiskers too much, trickster. I was hardly occupied."

"Weren't you? That brown-haired girl might say otherwise." Marinette's singlet slipped down off her shoulder as he ran his hands there, and she moved her hips against his lap. He gritted his teeth.

"Have you been watching me, Fox?" He purred, tracing her neck and back. Their little dance turned into a competition of who could make the other less capable of speech. She would tug at the hairs at the base of his neck, he'd drag his fingers up her thigh, just under the hem of her skirt.

"Don't be too proud." She responded, a little breathless with their tango, "You were just the prettiest boy in the room at the time."

He grinned at her teasing.

There was a pause in conversation as she brought her lips closer to his, their breath mingling and their eyes not daring to consider one another's. He seemed to be waiting for her to make the move, something Marinette both appreciated and would have reprimanded him for.

 _It is more gentlemanly to make the first move… But, I think he realises that, in this instance, I'm in control._

She brushed their mouths together – not quite a kiss, just the suggestion of what one might be, if they decided to take it any further.

"You're dangerous, fox." He said against her lips.

"You've no idea," She breathed, and moved her head to his neck, pressing her lips against the soft skin.

His hands flew to the back of her head, his fingers tangling with her hair.

"Who are you?" He asked again. "Tell me that."

"That would spoil the fun." She tried to continue, but he moved his head back, and pushed on her shoulders until she moved back as well.

"Please. I don't want to do anything with someone I don't at least know the name of."

"No." Marinette said again, removing all tones of seduction and replacing them with a child-like refusal.

He laughed at her, but caught her hands in his. "Please, kitty? I don't want to regret this."

She squinted at him, and pouted, shaking her head. He sighed, "Well, my name's Adrien. Pleased to meet you, Fox." He said the last part with a seductive grin. He moved his face closer to hers, intending to finally – _finally, she had been teasing for too long_ – press their lips together fully.

Marinette nearly fell off the chair, her arms flying away from his body so quickly she got whiplash. Her eyes widened, and her face flushed. All the alcohol in her system seemed to leave, and she was staring at the – very aroused – image of the man she thought she couldn't find.

"H-Hey, what's wrong?" Adrien asked, his eyes looking a little hurt, but mostly shocked.

She stammered, "I-I-I just, wasn't expecting it to be you."

His eyes widened as well, but not with recognition, "We know each other?"

She could only nod. Her legs still straddled him in the wide chair, his hands resting on her waist, which was what prevented her from falling off the chair.

He frowned, "Is it weird?"

"W-What?"

"If I saw you in real life again, would it ruin our relationship?"

His eyes were honest and open, and so innocent. He looked like Adrien's more eccentric twin, with an expressive face and brighter eyes.

Marinette suddenly had an idea. It was fuelled mostly by the alcohol, and the strange-smelling smoke, but her mind didn't realise that at the time.

"Not if you won't know who I am."

She latched herself to his neck again, and he tried to protest, but eventually gave in to her tricksy hands and lips.

A moment later, someone was banging on the door. It was Alya.

"Marinette, I know you're in there, and I know you're probably having the time of your life." She sounded both reprimanding and smug at the same time, as if she had realised it was not a good thing she was doing but had expected it anyway. "But, babe, I'm your ride home, and we're leaving."

Marinette nearly yelled in frustration, and she broke away from Adrien's neck, panting.

"Listen, Fox," He started, "maybe we should stop. It might not end well…" His words made him sound like they should stop, but with the way his fingers still dug into her shoulder blades and his leg muscles tightened as he curled his toes, she could tell he was holding himself back.

She sighed, and reason bled back into her actions. She stood in front of him, and the light in his eyes died away. The tension in his body didn't though, and he followed her movements as she leant down to whisper in his ear, "Til next time, hero."

He grinned, but it faltered a bit, "Will I even see you again? I apparently know who you are, but…"

She bit her lip, and made a split-second decision. He'd definitely already be invited, and she would be too. "There's a New Years party. My friends and I have been planning almost since mid-year." She grinned, "You should come. It's at Collège Françoise Dupont."

His eyes widened even further, "You go to the same school as me, too?"

"How else did you think I knew you?"

"I don't know, I thought you would be some model I've done a few shoots with before or something."

She scoffed, "As if, beauty queen."

He smiled, "So, you're gorgeous, confident, and flirtatious. I don't know how I've never heard of you before."

She smirked, but realised something. Confident, flirtatious, beautiful? Marinette was nothing like that. He'd never find her.

 _Maybe that's a good thing…_

She turned away, and he stood up from his chair, reaching for her. "Promise you'll come for me, at the New Years party?"

"Promise." She left, and let the door hang open behind her. Adrien watched her leave, her bare legs and feet, her tiny but feminine frame. Her hair was dark, almost blue in its blackness, and her eyes, god, her eyes. They had lit up like the Eiffel Tower at night, bright and impossible to look away from.

She was a monument in his mind, and as he left the room with a frustrating emptiness, he found no amount of dancing with the other girls that threw themselves at him would remove her face from his mind.

 **So, what did you think? Tell me where you think the story is gonna go in the comments, I'll be reading them and taking into account people's requests, if I like the sound of them...**

 **\- C**


	2. Who's to say who's in love with who

**This is a rather long chapter. The others may not be this long, lmao, I'm inconsistent.**

 **Firstly, I'd like all of you to remove the thoughts about the canon characteristics of the people in Miraculous Ladybug from your minds. I'm changing personalities to match my story and to make more drama, but also so then different people get a chance at being the villain in my stories, you know?**

 **Sorry if that annoys anyone while reading, I only want to entertain y'all!**

 **Leave a review for me, I'd love to hear what your predictions are for this story!**

Of course, Marinette didn't _really_ know Adrien Agreste. She knew him in the sense that he maybe once looked at her during class, but they had barely ever spoken.

One time, Adrien had caught her before she fell down the stairs, and that had been the most amount of 'talking' she had ever done with him. (Though, most had been her blubbering and him awkwardly trying to leave and be polite at the same time)

The night of the Halloween party, once Alya had driven Marinette home, she had walked in the front door, and her parents, already asleep, were not there to greet her.

Had they been, her welcome home would have been greatly different. With messy hair, smudged makeup and missing clothing, they might have thought she had gotten mugged or assaulted.

Alya and Nino had forced her into the shower, given her something to eat, and removed her makeup. Nino had been fine with seeing Marinette like this – the three of them had been friends since the start of elementary school.

Then, they went to the same high school.

Alya and Nino had started dating around ninth grade, after confessing to one another.

Two years later, they had reached the 'awkwardly tip-toeing' around having sex stage. How they ended up snogging in a booth at a low-end restaurant, neither of them knew.

When a man had walked in, with a gun in his hand, and a diagnosis that would leave him dead in a few weeks, they both ran to protect the family in the seat next to them.

An old man with enough power in his hands to destroy the universe had watched them do this, watched their compatibility with their constant banter, and saved their lives with a call to the Parisian police department and a quick tongue. He was able to distract the man long enough for the police to arrive.

That night, with the red and blue blaring lights silhouetting his features, he had slipped a necklace and a bracelet into their pockets.

A week later, they were leaping across rooftops with a staff and a shield, and a dedication to their new personas.

"Nino, Alya, thank you for… all that." Marinette slurred, around the rice crackers they had stuffed in her mouth.

"It's all good, buginette." Nino responded, sliding one hand around Alya's waist, "Just… maybe don't drink that much next time."

"Hah, okay." She laughed, and pulled her covers up higher. They watched over her fondly as she pulled her blanket up around her shoulders, and snuggled her nose into the duvet.

They stood and looked over her for a minute, before they were sure she was asleep, lying on her side, and not going to choke on her own vomit during the night.

"Nino?" Alya asked, very quietly, trying not to disturb the silence too much.

"Yeah?"

"Can we tell Marinette about us? I mean, about our powers."

He paused before saying anything, and turned to her. "Do you want to?"

She blinked, and looked him in the eye. "I mean, she's my best friend. I love her like a sister."

"And…?"

"And yes, I want to tell her. I feel like if I don't tell her anything now, and she finds out later, she'll be angry with me."

"Marinette would be angry with you for exactly twenty-seven seconds before she'd break down, apologising for being mad at you."

Alya chuckled, and admitted he was right, before she said, "I'm being serious."

Nino sighed, and pulled Alya against him in a hug. "If we tell Marinette, then I wanna tell Adrien, too."

Alya sighed, "Does everything have to be a competition?"

Nino smiled, "No, but it makes everything more fun."

They agreed to tell their respective best friends, and left a minute later. The Dupain-Cheng's were still fast asleep, not knowing two of the three most dangerous people in Paris were leaving their quant little bakery.

Adrien arrived at the front gates of his home, dreading whatever was ready to greet him inside. He was an hour and a half after curfew.

His memories of the night dragged behind him like a sand bag. He couldn't get the thought out of his mind – a pair of bright eyes, burning like a fire from within.

The weird thing was, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't picture the colour, the size, or the shape of them. How he knew the thought was of eyes he wasn't sure. He just knew he wanted to see it again.

He took a deep breath, and pushed the gate open with a high-pitched whine. Even to him, his entire house seemed uninviting. The front doors were huge, the gateway was huge, the number of stories was huge.

The soles of his shoes clicked slightly as he walked up the driveway, echoing.

He stepped in the front door, and the air inside was much warmer than outside. His father had the fireplace going. He hurried over to it, relishing in the waves of heat wafting from the flame.

So far, no-one had been there to see him walk in. He was starting to think he'd get away with it, when he heard the door down the dark hallway to his right open.

A figure stood there, almost unmoving, a silhouette from the light coming from the door just opened.

The figure spoke. "Adrien."

He shuddered.

Out of all the things he remembered the most vividly, it was his father discovering that his mother had run away. She had left after Gabriel started to become… angry. Everything he had been doing was done aggressively, and he took any action by another human being to be one of hostility.

She ran away, leaving Adrien behind. He didn't hate her for this; how could he hate someone he could hardly remember?

When Gabriel had found out she had left, he had shouted, yelled, screamed and bellowed, raising his fists and legs and eventually his belt, marking his sons body to the point that Adrien could hardly move. From there, he had been hit or slapped almost every day, home schooled until Adrien had finally convinced his father that it would be beneficial to him.

He would be out of his father's hair. That, Adrien thought, was probably the most convincing argument Adrien had made.

Moving him to a place where people saw him more frequently had stopped the abuse, but not much. He simple took more care with where the bruises were placed.

"Yes, father?" He responded, clasping onto reality and trying to drag his thoughts away from the first few awful nights.

"Where have you been?" Gabriel's voice was monotone, but deep. It held a dangerous undercurrent.

"Out." Adrien replied, turning back to the fire.

He could feel his heart rate increase as his father started taking steps out of the shadows. His palms started to sweat, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose. The feeling that always followed him when he was at home haunted him now – that he had fallen prey to a beast.

Gabriel stood at Adrien's side, holding his hands out as well. Gabriel's hands were so much larger than his. He was half a foot taller than Adrien, his shoulders broader, his face more mature. He was an adult, Adrien was a teenager.

It started with a gentle hand on his shoulder that Adrien forced himself not to flinch away from.

"Adrien, I thought I told you that eleven was the curfew."

"W-Was it?" His voice cracked, "Sorry, I thought you said –"

He was cut off as the hand on his shoulder tightened to being painful, and he winced. "You know I only do this because I care about you."

Gabriel forced him to turn, and Adrien looked into his eyes. "You know that, don't you?"

Adrien swallowed, and nodded.

Gabriel smiled, and Adrien felt his hope fade away. His feet nearly fell from underneath him as he was led away, into the room with the light.

Three minutes later, a woman with black hair with a red streak was awoken from bed by the sounds of a young boy trying to muffle his moaning. She buried her head in the pillow as she did every night, blocking the sounds out.

Fifteen minutes after that, Gabriel came back into the bedroom. He closed the door behind him quietly, as she was pretending to be asleep.

He slipped under the sheets, his shirt unbuttoned. He was delicate around her – as if she was fragile. She hated it that he treated his son so awfully when he treated her with so much care.

Natalie had become Gabriel's lover after Adrien's mother left. It was an attempt to make him more docile, but it hadn't worked. She had tried to take the position that Adrien's mother had occupied, to make Gabriel avert his attention from his son.

Instead, he seemed to have focused all his rage towards his son, not redirected it.

She nearly shuddered when his hands first met the skin on her shoulder. It was gentle, nothing like what his hands had been doing just minutes ago. But she was soothed to sleep with his ministrations, and the same thought that had grown in her mind every night this happened bloomed again.

 _Maybe he'll be better tomorrow._

The next morning, Adrien and Marinette followed a remarkably similar routine. The difference was Adrien had no distractions coming from his parents berating him with questions about his safety the night before.

Adrien, however, lacked all memory of the party the previous night. He woke up in his enormous bedroom, sunlight streaming through his floor to ceiling windows, with a terrible headache. Why he had decided to go to a party on a school night was beyond him.

Small flashbacks kept hitting him at random points. A girl with dirty green eyes and brown hair, a dance, and time he spent with a girl in private. He remembered feelings. He remembered being alone with a girl, and being almost euphoric about it. He then remembered her leaving, and feeling devastated.

He also remembered his father's fists.

He removed his shirt, and looked himself up and down in the mirror. Stomach, collarbones, lower back. All things clothing could cover easily.

Marinette was five minutes late walking into class, wearing a floral pink t-shirt, a black cardigan and blue jeans. Alya was sporting her usual orange and blue plaid shirt, with her cat-eye glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. She passed by Adrien's seat, and had to force the blood rushing to her face down just by the mere thought of him, and what she had done to him the night before.

She hurried along, and sat at the back left of the classroom, where she and Alya had taken up residence at school since the beginning of term.

Adrien and Nino sat at the opposite side of the room, something, at first, that annoyed Alya and Marinette greatly. Right now, Marinette couldn't have thanked the saints more.

"Marinette, go to the principle's office." Her teacher called, an exasperation in her voice. "Just… don't take long. It doesn't make sense to make you miss more class for missing class."

"Yes madam." Marinette bustled out of the room, after dropping her bags on her desk. She opened the door blindly – and ran into the chest of a… well-endowed woman.

Looking up, Marinette recognised the person immediately. It was the girl that Adrien had been dancing with last night. And she nearly started drooling.

Her eyes were pointed up at the sides slightly, and she had thick, long eyelashes. She was almost surreal in her beauty. Even her hair, golden brown, catching the sun, looked like something out of a Greek myth.

The blue and pink lights last night had not done her looks any good. But in broad day, she was absolutely stunning.

She stammered, "S-S-Sorry!"

The girl laughed, "It's quite alright." She moved past Marinette, sliding out of the way of the door with ease. "I'm sorry for startling you."

"I-I-It's fine!" Marinette felt heat rush to her face. _Goodness, she had to control herself. One pretty face and her brain simply short-circuited!_

She laughed again at Marinette's slowly shrinking form. "I'm Lila. Lila Rossi."

"O-Oh I'm Darrinette Mupain-Shang!" Marinette squeaked, "Wait, no, Mari – D-Dupain –"

She stopped herself by biting her tongue, and took a few seconds to calm herself down. Everyone in the room had seen most of the spectacle, including Adrien, but half of Marinette's mind was not on embarrassing herself in front of them. It was on embarrassing Lila.

A beautiful new girl can't be seen with stuttering Marinette. But, when she regarded the girl's expression, she saw only patient amusement. As if she was more than willing to wait for her to compose herself.

Marinette took a breath. "Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Lila smiled at her, before gesturing to the door, "I don't want to keep you from whatever you were hurrying to."

"Oh!" Marinette made a dash to the door, before stopping, blurting out an apology and a thank you, or something in between, _then_ leaving.

When Adrien had seen her come in, the memories from the previous night came in a wave. The start of the night, walking in with Nino, and spotting her instantly. She was chatting with Rose over a bowl of punch, still with glad-wrap over the top.

Her outfit was very tight. It left little about her athletic physique and feminine body to the imagination. What caught him the most was her smile – the most attractive feature of a woman, he considered.

He had caught her eye, too. They had danced together for a while, before they had run out of dance moves to do. Then, they grabbed a few drinks, and found that repeating the same dance moves again and again was rather not that bad.

Then he wanted another drink, and told her as much.

"But, babe, this is my favourite song!"

"You've said that about the past three songs!"

"I liked them all." She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, and brought her smiling mouth closer to his. "Come on, stay with me."

He smiled, but managed to remove her. "I'll be back soon."

Walking to the kitchen, he spotted two new people coming in the door. One was rather petite, with blue-black hair and an orange outfit. He recognised her companion, dressed in red and black as a ladybug. It was Alya, Nino's girlfriend.

He noticed something about the small, black haired girl. Her eyes. Large, blue, and deep.

Shaking off a weird feeling, he went back to the dance floor with the drinks. He stood at the edge of the throng of people, looking for the girl he had been dancing with.

He found her, and was about to call out, before he realised he hadn't even asked her for her name. He tried to get through the crowd without spilling too much, but he ended up with only half of the drinks left.

She laughed when he handed her one. "All that you could retrieve?" Despite having drunk quite a lot, she was still well equipped with wit.

He chuckled, "Yeah, unfortunately."

The memory faded away, and he was brought back to reality.

"Ah, hello Miss Rossi. Welcome to class." Ms Bustier said, turning from the papers she was sorting.

"Hello Madam Bustier."

"There is a seat behind the boys here, since Max moved to the advanced classes, is it alright if you sit there for now?"

"That'll do perfectly."

She went to move to her seat, before hesitating, "Should I introduce myself?"

"Oh, quite right, yes, I'm sorry." Ms Bustier clearly had had a similar reaction to Marinette, but on a more mature level.

"Well," Lila straightened, "My name is Lila Rossi, though, I'm sure you heard that at the door. I'm into history and design, and I'm aspiring to be a designer."

Everyone in the room was so distracted by her beauty that most of them didn't even hear what she had said. All but Adrien Agreste, who, being a model, worked with so many unnaturally beautiful people that he was quite immune to her looks.

 _A designer, hey? I swear someone else wanted to be a designer... Who was that?_

Marinette came fumbling back into the room with a late pass from the principle and many apologies on her lips. She saw the seating arrangement – Lila was placed right behind Adrien.

On one hand, she hated that, but on the other, she could hardly believe the girl would be competition.

She just seemed too nice to do that.

Marinette started dancing around her room to the music. She twisted her hips, closed her eyes, swung her arms out and brought them to the back of her neck.

 _Havana ooh nah nah_

Marinette had gotten home earlier than usual, to a rather unusual message. Her parents had found out that a friend of theirs from school had fallen ill, and they were planning on visiting hthem in hospital.

But Marinette's mother had complained that she had no clothes to travel with, and postponed leaving until the end of November, rather than in two weeks time. So right now, they were out shopping.

So Marinette, with little work to do now that the bakery was closed for the day, had run to her room, finished her homework, and turned the music up.

She swung her head around, slowly lowering her body to the floor with graceful swings of her hips and gradually bending her legs.

 _Half of my heart is in Havana ooh nah nah_

All her self-consciousness was gone now, and she just spun and moved blindly, knowing no-one was watching, letting her hair out and making a show of flicking her hair-ties across the room.

At times when the music sped up, she would move her body faster, and strut, almost like she was on a catwalk, around the room.

She would smile at invisible cameras, pose for fake photos, twist and spin and shake and move to the beat of the music. She nearly started singing, but decided the music was already loud enough.

Moving with grace and fluidity, Marinette felt inspired by her own movements. She sat down at her desk, grabbing out her sketchbook and pencil case. _Funny_ , she thought, while her pencil drew its own lines around her page, _that one can be one's own muse_.

Her designs were based on movement.

 _"A simple elegance, honey. It's what all fashion designers strive for."_

Marinette remembered meeting the famed Simone Agreste, in a room full of flashing lights and beautiful people. She had been twelve, and running about in the dress her parents had bought her with what little money they had at the time.

Simone looked almost exactly like Adrien, with bright green eyes and incredibly clear skin, blonde hair and long eyelashes.

Marinette had heard her say the simple elegance line to an interviewer, asking about what drove her designs and how she changed them.

She had been inspired by this woman from a very young age, and then, had started going to the same school as her son.

She had fallen for him, hard.

Later that year, Simone Agreste went missing. She had seen Adrien shift and grow over the years, and taken on board his quirks and mannerisms, learning what moods meant what. In some ways, people might think of her as a stalker. Marinette didn't like that word. She preferred 'avid fan' or 'excessive admirer'.

Her phone began to ring, and she looked at it in shock. It was almost midnight, who was calling?

She saw her phone light up with a number that she didn't recognise, and answered.

"Hello? Marinette speaking."

"Hi Marinette! It's Lila."

"L-Lila?" Marinette squeaked, nearly dropping her phone. "W-What's up?"

Lila, on the other side, laughed, "I'm not sure, really. I just wanted to let you know that Nino gave me your number."

Marinette was confused, so she asked, "Nino? Why?"

Then, when Lila took a little while responding, she panicked. _Did that sound rude? Oh my god, it totally did, Marinette what were you thinking, it's not like you don't want her to have your number you just hadn't thought about it before surely she must know that I didn't mean it that way – Oh god of course she doesn't realise that she's amazing and perfect and other people probably dream of having her phone number –_

"I'm… not sure, to be honest." Lila responded. There was a waver in her voice. It was like she was nervous, but Marinette couldn't entertain why. "I just… I don't know. I want to be your friend?"

Marinette had no idea how to respond. A beautiful girl was asking to be her friend? It made little to no sense. Marinette was, at most, cute. She wasn't charming or flirtatious or brilliant (only when drunk) and Lila seemed to be all of those things (apparently, even when sober).

"Well…" Marinette started, "I-I uh, I'm not sure _why_ you want to be my friend, but yes, sure, I'd love to."

She heard Lila intake breath on the other side. "Really? You're being serious?"

Marinette blinked a few times. "U-uh, yes, I am."

"Oh thank goodness!" She cried, a little too loud. She seemed genuinely excited at the idea. Marinette was overwhelmed.

Over the course of the next half hour, they simply chatted away.

Marinette found her easy to talk to, and it turned out both of them held the Agreste family in high regard when it came to the fashion world. Marinette remarked on Adrien's looks, and Lila had had a weird response. At first, she had said, "Yeah, he's quite pretty." But only a little bit later, she had said, "I mean, in all honesty, I think you're better looking than he is."

To that, Marinette had no idea what to say. She felt her heart flutter, if only a little. _Wait, I thought I was in love with Adrien?_

But, then the conversation returned to it's usual flow, and Marinette was forced to let go of the moment. They talked, and amongst other things, Marinette had managed to accidentally invite her to the New Year's party.

Marinette tried to calm her mind; _Well, she was probably going to be invited eventually anyway._

The end of the call resulted in another little heart flip like before.

"I should probably go, I'm sorry Marinette."

"No! Don't apologise! It's totally okay."

Lila seemed to deflate, and Marinette realised it wasn't the nicest way of putting it. "I mean, of course I don't want you to leave, you're an amazing person, I just didn't want to make you feel like you _had_ to stay here, like, I didn't want you thinking I was being clingy or rude by not letting you go or anything –"

"Marinette!" Lila sounded like she was laughing around the name, and Mari had to admit, it sounded rather sweet. "It's cool."

"H-Hah, okay."

There was a beat of silence.

"Well, I'll see ya round, little bug."

With that, Lila had hung up. Marinette's mind whirled with possibility.

Was she bisexual? She had never really addressed the matter. Though it made little difference to the people around her (every person she had ever met was accepting of LGBTQ+ members) it made a difference to her.

A whole new world of possibilities for herself. And, Marinette had to say, it's not like she didn't think about it sometimes, she just never looked too far into those thoughts.

 _Woah… This is different._

With a weird feeling settling in her gut, Marinette went to bed, putting her phone on charge beside her.

 **Please don't hate me for making Lila nice :)**

 **I just wanted a change of pace. People always make her bad, even I did, in my and T's last fic, Assassins of Fu.**

 **But yes, what did you think? Marinette is swaying the other way, if only a little.**

 **Leave a review, tell me what you think (remember, this is a competition. The more reviews I get the closer I am to winning - T is winning right now let's beAT HER - and also the better for me to write a story y'all enjoy)**


	3. Helpers of the mind

**Here's chapter three! I'm afraid my co-writer is falling a bit behind, I think she's losing motivation to write - go to her story and drop some motivation into the comments, I want a proper competition!**

 **Enjoy reading, everyone!**

 **Leave a comment, tell me your thoughts.**

A month later, Lila had been integrated into their little group quite nicely. They found themselves to be quite the fiver.

Throughout that month, Marinette had found herself with some very strange, and very foreign, problems.

On one hand, the feeling of her heart doing a backflip whenever she saw Adrien was something she was used to. On the other, she was not used to the little miniature star-jump her heart did when she saw Lila.

It started happening more and more frequently, and Marinette left school dazedly almost every day. She would see Adrien grin at Nino and find herself staring, then Lila would come around the corner chatting with any of the people in their class (they all liked her equally) and she would stumbled on her own feet.

At school, Marinette, Lila, Alya, Adrien and Nino were all sitting at a table together. On one side, Lila was on the edge, with Marinette in the middle and Alya on the end. On the other, Nino was across from Alya and Adrien sat in front of Lila and Marinette.

"Marinette, do you like strawberry flavoured things?" Lil asked suddenly. It was directed straight at Marinette, and said quietly enough that only Adrien would really have been able to hear it (but, only if he was listening for it).

"Well, I mean, it's not my favourite flavour, but yeah."

"Cool! There's this adorable little stand that's popped up a couple blocks over, and they make everything and anything strawberry!" She flourished her hands in the air, making Marinette smile.

Then, Lila's expression changed slightly before she said, "You should come with me after school."

She was staring directly at her, like nothing else was even in the area. Adrien, Alya and Nino, all saw this. Adrien, because, for no reason he could decipher, had some feeling that he didn't want this budding relationship he had seen hinted at to occur.

He had no reason to think this, but he still did. Whenever he saw them together, some complicated little part of his brain said 'no', and a knot inside his heart grew tighter and tighter the more times he ignored it.

At seeing Marinette consider Lila's offer, he almost fumbled for an excuse for them not to go.

"Yeah–"

"Are you two making plans without me?" Adrien inquired, propping his chin on the heel of his hand, interrupting Marinette's reply.

Nino, Lila and Alya all looked at him the same way. Surprised, if not shocked.

"You're not gonna leave me to spend the evening with these two disgusting lovebirds, are you?"

At that, the mood shifted back to normal, and Adrien managed to diffuse the little bomb he had accidentally set.

Inwardly, he sighed in relief. It was a strange feeling he got, whenever he first saw Marinette in the morning. At home, he tried to think of her with other people. He imagined her in someone else's arms, and, it didn't seem to bother him.

But, the moment he saw her eyes for the first time in the day, the thought of someone else having her was strangely unbearable. Maybe he had grown so fond of their friendship that he just didn't want to lose her?

"Of course not." Lila replied, seemingly recovered from something Marinette didn't understand.

Adrien and Lila were looking at each other with wary gazes, as if they were both trying to steal something away from one another.

"Yes, of course not." Marinette seconded, swallowing, "We'd be happy for you to join us."

"So happy." Lila said.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun."

An hour and a half later, the three of them were in front of the stand, with ideas of strawberry flavoured treats they each wanted. Marinette, with an ice cream, Lila with a sorbet, and Adrien wanted a strawberry tart.

Marinette fumbled to get out her wallet, but before she could, both Adrien and Lila were handing the man the total amount for their own and Marinette's food.

"Don't worry about it." Lila said, through her teeth, "I've got Marinette's, just pay for your own."

"No, I wouldn't want you to have to pay for anyone other than yourself." Adrien responded, teeth also a little gritted.

"You two!" Marinette chided, trying to get into her wallet, "Let me just –"

"No." Lila and Adrien said at the same time, then turned to each other again with murder in their eyes.

 _Honestly, why do they dislike each other so much?_

The air outside was rather brisk, and Marinette had no idea why she had gotten an ice-cream. She could see the steam forming in front of Lila and Adrien's mouths while they bickered, holding up the line.

"Look." Marinette said, pushing past. She handed the man – now looking rather stressed at being put in between something like this – enough money to pay for all three. Then she grabbed both of them by the elbow and dragged them away.

"I understand that you were both trying to be nice," She started, "but honestly, you're such nuisances."

"I always pay for our food when we go out!" Adrien said, almost pouting, stumbling a little from where Marinette was dragging him.

"No, whenever Marinette and I go out _I_ buy her meal." Lila said back, also looking slightly dishevelled from Marinette's tugging.

"Well, I paid for all three of us, so I suppose we're all even then." Marinette concluded, using a tone of finality.

She heard the two of them squabbling behind her, and sighed. What was she going to do with these two?

"Hey, Marinette, did you want to go out for dinner tomorrow?" Lila questioned, coming to her side after Marinette released her from her grip.

She turned to look at Lila's face, and saw the genuine look of hope. Her heart made another one of her uncertain little flips.

"Y-Yeah, sure, I'd love to."

She didn't see Adrien walking behind the two of them while they made plans about when and where. He was looking between Lila's face and Marinette's, and his stomach seemed to not want to be inside himself anymore.

He hated the feeling. He wanted it to go away. He stopped looking at their eyes, and looked around instead, trying to distract himself. There were lights strung up on the trees, going around the trunk and wrapping around the branches in a very pretty way.

The sun was just setting, meaning all the restaurant owners were lighting candles for their outdoor seating and setting up heaters between the tables.

There were little kids running between stalls, because there seemed to be an unofficial marketplace here. Stands sold hot drinks and hot food, as well as Christmas themed clothing and decorations.

All over there were people huddling together in groups, and couples holding hands in the cold. Everyone's noses were a little bit pink. After all, Christmas was only a month away.

He looked back to his two companions for the evening. They were chatting away with each other, when a song from a restaurant started playing, and Marinette made a little sound of glee.

It was Havana, a song Adrien had heard many times when turning on his radio.

"Lila, this is my favourite song!" She dragged the brunette closer to the source of the song, and started moving to the beat.

She seemed unconscious to the looks of people walking by. They stopped and watched her, merry expressions on their faces.

She looked genuinely happy. Not dancing all that well, but genuinely happy.

She started singing, and she wasn't the best singer, either, but her voice did sound lovely.

Adrien was snapped out of watching Marinette when she spun Lila around, both their hands clasped.

They switched places, and now Adrien had full view of Lila's face. She seemed genuinely happy, too.

A little fire grew in Adrien's chest, and he started towards them – and stopped. What was he going to do? They weren't causing any trouble – _aside from the little war going on inside his body_ – they were just having fun.

And people had started to form a circle around them, some joining in, some with their phones out, some just watching. All in all, Adrien could do nothing but watch.

Eventually, Marinette let go of Lila's hands, and started dancing all by herself. She tossed her head and flicked her hair, spun around and swung her arms. She stepped to the beat, as if it was choreographed.

People started clapping to the beat for her, and a few of the kids Adrien had seen running around before started to join her, dancing (far less beautifully, but just as enthusiastically) around her in a circle.

Marinette laughed, and the song ended. She was smiling with the kids when Adrien walked over, and the small gathering dispersed, some whistling and clapping.

She looked up, and smiled at him.

He said, "That looked like fun."

She grinned in response, but then her grin dropped, and her entire face went scarlet. "O-Oh, my god, that was so embarrassing, why did I do that…" Marinette trailed off, shrinking into herself more and more with each word, covering her face.

"Marinette!" Adrien laughed, trying to pry her hands away from her face. She found herself weak-kneed at the way he had laughed around her name. "You looked amazing, it's okay!"

At that, she practically did fall over, but Adrien's hands on hers reminded her that she wasn't allowed to fall down. That would have been even more embarrassing.

Honestly, when she had heard the song start to play, she just started moving automatically, her dances in her room and the designs that had sprung from it flashing in her mind.

Marinette peeked at him between her fingers.

And Adrien blinked. Her eyes.

 _She has the eyes._

He went blank-faced, staring directly at her. Marinette forgot about her delayed embarrassment, and removed her hands from her face. "Adrien?"

"Dude, you okay?" Lila asked, coming up beside Marinette. She put a hand on Marinette's shoulder.

"What is it, Adrien?" Marinette asked again, started to get worried with his expression.

Adrien, meanwhile, could not hear either of them. _Marinette? She has the eyes that I remember. What happened? Why does she have the eyes? Why can't I just remember her?_

"Adrien, seriously, what is it." Lila said, poking his forehead.

He blinked, and looked at Lila's face, then back to Marinette's. Suddenly, his face went just as red as Marinette's had been moments ago, and he coughed into his hand.

He had remembered.

"Nothing." He muttered. "It's nothing. Where to next?" He cleared his throat a few more times.

"W-Well." Marinette started uncertainly. _Did she had something on her face? It was such an odd reaction…_

Marinette remembered the party vividly, but over the past month she had practically forgotten about it. It was just something that would blow over. But, then, she also remembered the meeting she had promised to have with him at the New Year's party. She wondered if her remembered it, too.

 _Oh God it was Marinette. Marinette was the girl. Marinette was the one I saw and moved with. She danced around me. We were going to... If we hadn't been interrupted... Oh my God it was Marientte..._

Adrien's attitude changed for the rest of the evening. He was more... affectionate towards Marinette. It seems that he had made some kind of decision in his head, and he was suddenly fine with just, casually, touching her.

They wove their way through the crowds, stopping at stalls that interested them. At one point Lila went to a stall pretty far away, and Adrien had put his arm over Marinette's shoulder. On her way back to them, Marinette could have sworn she nearly growled.

(Though she could hardly hear anything other than the roaring in her ears, she was blushing so furiously)

Twenty minutes later, Adrien had gone to check out a stall selling little pop-out phone holders.

"Hey, Marientte, why don't we go get something more substantial to eat?" Lila said, putting her hand on the small of Marinette's back to get her attention.

Marinette felt her face go hot, and she averted her eyes, "Uh, yeah, sure, but," Marinette had to swallow before she could speak again, "where?"

"Oh, I was thinking we could go somewhere cheap. I work at a fast-food chain, I'm not made of money like blondie over there."

Marinette frowned, before she said, "Yeah, I was getting a little hungry…" She looked back, to see Adrien looking around the crowd to try to find them. "Shouldn't we wait for Adrien, though?"

"Don't worry about it. I can just text him. I'll tell him we went for dinner."

"Isn't that a little mean?"

"Hey, he's the one that went wandering off." Lila pointed out, and Marinette was going to point out that she had done the exact same thing, when Adrien had spotted Marinette looking back at him.

He started towards her, trying to get through the crowd – but the number of people had suddenly increased. He was stuck around thirty metres behind them, trying to shoulder his way politely through people.

"C'mon Mari." Lila said, slipping her hand into hers.

Marinette squeaked, and sputtered, making Lila laugh and smile at her. "He's a big boy, he can take it."

Marinette turned her head back once, and watched him watch them leave.

She didn't see him watch her turn her head back, and walk away, her hand in Lila's.

In his mind, he was thinking, _Can she just wait a little bit longer?_

In her mind, she was thinking, _I think maybe I'm done waiting for him._

Walking into the diner, Marinette had almost forgotten about him. Lila had made her laugh so many times on the way over, that she couldn't have asked or a better distraction.

"There we were, Johnny was screaming his head off, I'm sure the workers thought we were bloody insane at this point!" Lila said, through her own laughing.

Marinette watched her face move, and found herself studying the way it moved. She had the tiniest dimples in her chin when she smiled really broadly. Her eyes crinkled at the sides at the same time that happened, and when she laughed, she always hunched her shoulders really high.

 _Adrien does something similar…_ Marinette found herself thinking. _Except, his eyes crinkle underneath, and the dimples are on his cheeks… He doesn't hunch his shoulders as much. His hair doesn't need to be constantly tossed back, either…_

Then, she blinked a few times. Why was she comparing them? There was no point. Here was an equally beautiful person, that actually seemed to like her. Or, at least, acknowledged her from the start of when they met.

But, what about the New Years party? Adrien was going to look for her, wasn't he? Or did he remember anything from the Halloween party at all?

 _In any case…_ _Lila is here, now. Surely she'll be here by then, won't she? If I meet him, but I've decided I like Lila more, then will she still be there for me? Would I even be able to reject Adrien?_

"Lila." Marinette interrupted.

"And, Sarah was saying… Yeah?"

"If I asked you to wait for me, would you?"

Lila seemed taken aback, then she seemed extremely happy. Her eyes lit up, and, underneath the table, she pinched the back of her hand. "Yes, of course." She responded, smiling brilliantly.

"Good." Marinette had seen her lighting up, but not bothered to analyse it. She was too focused on her own predicament. She hadn't realised she had basically made it just a tiny bit more complicated for herself.

That night, Marinette had gone straight up to her room. Her parents called after her, but she said she was too tired to talk. They shrugged, and went back to watching T.V.

Five minutes later, she was pacing around her bedroom.

 _What was she thinking? Asking her to wait? That's so rude. She'll want me to tell her sooner, not later, if she was interested. Honestly, she wasn't even sure what she was. She hadn't had any experience with women, she'd only ever had a crush on Adrien._

She sat at her desk. Her throat started to close up, and her vision began to swim.

 _Why am I crying?_

Her thoughts swirled around, throwing words and images at her.

 _"Yes of course."_

 _A head of blonde waves._

 _Seeing Lila and Adrien dancing together._

 _Watching his eyes burn with fire._

 _Watching Lila's eyes light up._

 _Marinette, standing between the two, each with a hand on her shoulder._

Music started wafting through the window, but it was so gentle and soft she barely took notice of it. She started hearing Adrien and Lila talk in her head. Suddenly, she started _seeing_ them.

A small, doll sized Lila, walked across her sketchbook, and sat atop a hard cover book.

"You know, these drawings are really quite good." She said, tossing a lock of hair over her shoulder.

Suddenly, an equally miniaturised Adrien appeared, walking casually to stand on top of Marinette's latest drawing.

"Yeah, maybe you should submit them for a competition somewhere."

They were both addressing Marinette. She nearly screamed, before she realised she must have just been tired. She rubbed her eyes, and when she looked back, they were gone.

She sighed in relief, and felt her heart return to its normal rate.

When she went into her closet to pick out some sleepwear, she _did_ scream, because there they were again, strolling over her pile of shorts that she never wore.

"You'd look good with shorts on," Lila started, "You have very nice legs."

"Hey, don't tell Marinette how to dress." Adrien fired back, standing on top of her pyjama pile. He turned to her, saying, "You look good in anything."

"Marinette?" Her mother called, opening up the little trapdoor, "Are you alright? What happened?"

"N-Nothing, sorry." Marinette called, keeping her eyes on the two little people. "It was, uh, a bug?"

Adrien and Lila looked at each other, seeming to shrug. Like they were saying, _yeah, I'd say that too_.

"Oh, alright. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, mum." She said, looking at the two of them. She shook her head.

"What?" Lila said.

"Why are you tiny?" Marinette nearly whispered it, hardly able to find her voice.

 _Was she hallucinating? Had she had enough water? Did she eat something bad at that diner? Her parents were going to come in here and find her talking to herself and think she's insane and she'll be sent to an insane asylum and she'll only be allowed to eat mashed potatoes and peas and ham for her life and oh god the straight jacket is going to be so itchy –_

"We're… just figments of your imagination, Mari." Lila provided.

"Yeah, don't worry, you're not insane or anything." Adrien assured.

"Right, right, yes, okay…"

She shook her head again, and said, "So, _why_ exactly am I daydreaming about you two?"

"Well, most of the time, it's because you have some kind of problem that needs to be solved." Adrien said, plonking himself down onto a pom-pom attacked to a shirt.

"Yeah." Lila agreed, going to sit with her legs over the edge of her cupboard, "We wouldn't be here if you didn't need some clarification or solution to do with whoever we appear to you as."

"So…" Adrien started, "Why don't you tell us why we're here?"

"Well…" Marinette gulped a little, "I guess it's a kind of love-triangle thing…"

"Oh, do you both like Adrien Agreste?" The little Adrien said, looking at himself in the mirror at the back of the cupboard.

"No... At least, I don't think so."

"That'll teach you to be so assuming, ya little shit." Lila said, across the cupboard to Adrien, quietly.

"Hey, probability wise, it was heaps more likely!" He defended.

"Don't assume things, asshole!" She fired.

"Don't call me an asshole!"

"Weren't we supposed to be solving my problems?" Marinette asked, weakly.

"Yeah, we are." Lila shot Adrien a look, and he made an 'I didn't do anything' gesture.

"Okay." Lila restarted, looking back up to Marinette, "What's happened?"

"W-Well, I've had a crush on you," she said to the tiny Adrien, " – well, Adrien, for a while, really. Then I went to this party, but I saw you two dancing together, and I got really upset, then I got really drunk, and started dancing… a little... inappropriately." Marinette began. "And, yeah so, I… seduced Adrien? I was wearing a mask so I'm guessing he didn't know it was me… It turned out that Lila was a new student in class the next morning. And… well for the past month, Adrien, Lila and my two other best friends had started becoming closer and closer…

"Then, tonight, the three of us went out and I felt really weird the entire night, because whenever Adrien did anything with me Lila would get mad, and vice versa. I was embarrassed for hours."

"Hmm." Adrien hummed, thoughtfully, "So, is the problem that you can't decide between the two?"

"U-Um, yes, I guess so."

"Hmm." He said again, resting his chin on his hand, the same way Adrien did in real life. "I don't suppose you've made a pros and cons list yet?"

Marinette made a face. "Isn't that kinda... primitive?"

"It works surprisingly effectively." The little Lila said, matter-of-factly.

"Uh, okay." She went out onto her desk, to find the mini Adrien and Lila already sat on the base of her desk lamp. They watched as she ruled up a table for the two of them.

In the end, the list looked like this:

 **Adrien**

PROS

Very good looking  
Extremely nice  
Talented

CONS

Might have only started to like me because of the party?  
Might not like me in that way at all  
Could have been asked by Nino or Alya to watch out for me

 **Lila**

PROS

Very good looking  
Funny  
Seems to really like me  
Very nice

CONS

I'm not sure what I am (bi? pan? I might not be any of them, never tried?)  
I've liked Adrien for so long, and he hasn't done anything to make me totally stop liking him

She sighed, the little Lila lying on her left shoulder by the end, and the little Adrien standing with his hands in his pockets on the other shoulder.

They sighed as well. "It's pretty much a tie…" Lila said.

"Unfortunately, yes." Adrien agreed, sadly.

"I think maybe we should use something other than a pros and cons list." Marinette said.

"Well, what do you want to use?" Adrien said, a little sulkily, then Lila added, "Yeah, what?"

"I'm not sure, isn't that your job?" Marinette groaned.

They hummed, before they snapped their heads towards one another and grinned.

"We have an idea." They said, in sync.

They jumped off her shoulders, and Marinette nearly yelled, when they landed on the ground as fully grown people.

They turned to look at her.

"Why don't we see who you respond to the most..." Lila started, her outfit changing. Her clothing shifted, and Marinette watched it weave mid-air. Suddenly, she was wearing a dress of golden sparkles, hugging her hips and breasts tightly. It was low on the top, and had slits up the sides all the way up to her hips.

Adrien had had a similar change in clothing. He had shifted into a very attractive suit, a tight white shirt underneath, fitting him perfectly. It showed off the muscle in his arms and his long legs. They were both beautiful.

"...physically?" They said, together.

Marinette's eyes widened, before she nearly fell out of her chair. "Ph-ph-physically?" She cried, before clamping a hand down to her mouth. She felt her entire body go hot, and she was sure she was blushing to the roots of her hair.

The pair suddenly both burst out laughing. Lila doubled over, hugging her stomach. Adrien opened his mouth really wide and laughed very loudly. Marinette desperately hoped her parents couldn't hear them, now, though it would have solved the problem of them thinking she was crazy.

"We're only playing." Adrien laughed, walking towards Marinette. "Our idea is completely different. We just wanted to mess with you a little bit."

He didn't offer her a hand up, she suspected he couldn't.

"Sorry, sweetheart." Lila finished, chuckling.

Marinette stood up, and grumbled at them. "Then what's your _actual_ idea."

"We're gonna go into your head. We're gonna just, create scenarios."

"Scenarios?"

"Yeah." Adrien joined in. "It's like we're gonna stream little events like a tv show directly into your head. How you react to them in there is exactly how you'd react to it in real life."

"That seems… logical."

"It works every time." Lila said. She walked over to Marinette, and placed a hand on each of her temples. "Shut your eyes." Lila said.

Marinette did, and to an outsider, it would looked like she simply collapsed to the ground.

Outside her window, the two greatest heroes in the world were watching all of this.

"ALYA! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Nino yelled, before Rena clapped a hand over his mouth.

"JUST SHOUT MY GODDAMN IDENTITY TO EVERYONE IN PARIS, WILL YOU?"

He bit her hand, "SHE JUST FELL DOWN, RENA!"

"OUCH, JESUS CHRIST, SHE'S _FINE_ – "

"SHE DOESN'T LOOK FUCKING _FINE_ – "

"IT'S WHAT HAPPENS SOMETIMES, OKAY?"

Nino looked like he was about to hyperventilate. Alya sighed.

"Listen, she's fine, I promise. My illusions have free reign, but they know what they're doing. Ajax and Hippolyta have helped me a few times to get out of situations, okay?"

"Have they ever had to psychoanalyse anyone?" Nino asked, biting his nails.

"Well, no, but they're kind of like robots. If I tell them to do something, and they didn't already have that kind of coding, then me saying it kind of inputs it."

"So we're sending walking supercomputers into Marinette's _head_ to see who she _likes more_?"

"Look, honey," Alya said, putting her hand on his shoulder, "you and I both know Marinette has never been the best at dealing with people. And, in this situation, she's bound to get more hurt if she doesn't realise who she likes more earlier on."

Nino hunched his shoulders, and mumbled unintelligibly. He then sighed, and looked into Alya's eyes. "Fine. But if anything happens to her that shouldn't I'm taking her to the hospital."

"Look, let's see what happens." Alya said, turning back to Marinette's window.

Inside Marinette's mind, she's walking through a hallway. Up ahead, she sees Adrien with a girl. She doesn't know who she is, but somehow she knows that this is his new girlfriend. When she walks by them, he calls to her, and says hi.

Marinette smiles and waves weakly back at them. They both look happy.

A little pit grows inside her stomach. She feels it knotting and growing inside of her as she's forced to live an entire day in dream land (mere seconds in real life), and she knows what it is by the end: she's angry. Or sad. Or jealous of the girl.

She doesn't know what it is, or, she can't slim it down to a single feeling. But she can't stand it after a while. She goes home, starts crying, wipes away her tears, goes to bed, wakes up, goes to school, and does it again the next day.

The lives as dream-Marinette for a week, and by the end of it, she's in agony. She's seen them kissing, and hugging, and saying goodbye at the end of the day, every day. She watches them hold hands.

The dream vanishes, and another one takes its place.

This time, she sees Lila, holding hands with a girl. Marinette frowns. Dream-Marinette's week is lived in a strange trance. She isn't upset, not like before. On the contrary, when she sees them together, and sees Lila happy, she's glad. But, she almost feels likes she _should_ be upset.

But, she isn't.

Then, another dream comes. This time, it's of Adrien asking her out. Dream her says yes straight away, and they hug, and it's the happiest she's ever felt.

Lila asks her out, with her brilliant eyes and beautiful smile. Marinette also says yes, but she isn't nearly as happy with her as she is with him.

 _"Time's up."_

She's brought back to her body, suddenly, like her soul was slammed back into her heart with force.

She coughs when she wakes up, and Jade Turtle, outside her window, sighs in relief. Rena Rouge, though quieter, also sighs.

She had been able to hear everything going on in her head, though Nino hadn't.

 _Adrien, then and forever, huh Buginette?_

 **I hoped you liked the new chapter, ladies, gentlemen, gentleladies and neither gentlemen nor ladies.**

 **It was super fun to write, I'm falling further and further away from the topic, though. I promise Christmas-related angst will happen soon!**

 **\- C**


	4. The Sins of the Father

**Hey y'all! I'm back with a new chapter. This is around mid November in the fic. ',:/**

 **There are some depictions of violence and abuse in this chapter, I'm sorry. If you're uncomfortable with that then by all means you don't have to read it!**

 **Remember it's just a story! :)**

Chapter Four 

Two weeks later, nothing had happened between Lila, Marinette or Adrien.

Adrien was caught up in photoshoots every other day, and he even had an interview on the news on a day that Nino and Alya suggested they go for a picnic. Their plans were ruined by his constant need to be publicised.

Lila was waiting for Marinette to give her some kind of signal, since what she had said in the diner. On one hand, Lila desperately wanted to hear an answer now, but on the other, she felt almost like she would wait years to get the answer she wanted.

Marinette, despite having her little therapy session with her subconscious (or, that's what she believed them to be) had only slightly deciphered herself.

 _If seeing Lila happy had made me happy then did that mean I loved her? Does it mean I only love her as a friend? Does me being angry at Adrien's fake girlfriend mean I'm absolutely in love with him and not Lila? Should I even be throwing the word 'love' into any of this?_

She hated herself for being so indecisive. On one occasion, she had thought, why not just try out both, and see which I like more at the end?

She had nearly hit herself in the face for even thinking something so manipulative and cruel.

But, at this point, the lives of the group consisted of relatively boring things. Christmas gift shopping, the weather getting colder. The last week of assessment at school having been the one they just finished, they were looking forward to a week of mucking around in the final one.

All in all, each family had Christmas traditions they were each following.

"Adrien." Gabriel called, from his office, waiting or a response from the teenager. There was a long pause, "Adrien?" He repeated, rolling back his chair from his desk, and leaning his head back further to see if his voice would carry.

"Adrien, I want you to come in here."

Gabriel had been doing something he only did when he _wanted_ to feel angry. He was looking through old photographs. There were photos of he, his wife, and little Adrien, happy, together, smiling. A part of him hated that they had once been that way. The other part hated that it was that way for such a short amount of time.

He had seen a photo just of his wife. Her vibrant green eyes, her perfect smile. Her face-shape, similar but more feminine than Adrien's. Her hair colour, identical to his son's. Her skin tone, her eye shape, the way her eyes crinkled, the way her hair bounced, Adrien, Adrien, Adrien, Adrien. It all reminded Gabriel of Adrien.

A pit of anger had started to grow there the more photos he looked at. Her perfect image, sullied by the disgusting reminder of what had torn them apart. The thing he had to take care of, to provide for, and she looked so much like him.

How dare he ruin the memory of her.

So he had called out, wanting to relieve himself of the anguish he felt from looking at her, and Adrien had not responded.

Adrien had heard his father's calling from the first one. After all, he wasn't that far away, he was just in the downstairs living room, in front of the fire place with a book, _Wonder_ , when Gabriel had first said his name. He had ignored it because he knew exactly what his father wanted.

It was Christmas time. That was around the time his mother had disappeared. Also around the time Gabriel Agreste takes out his photo albums, and looks upon photographs that builds his aggression until he can release it like a flood gate onto his son, Adrien Agreste.

He heard his father get up from his desk, and the hair on the back of his neck rose. Gabriel walked out, his eyes locked onto Adrien's, though Adrien was still looking down at his book.

"Adrien, I've been calling you."

Adrien took his time looking up from his book, and his eyes widened in faux surprise. "Oh, really? Sorry, I was just reading," he held his book up a little for emphasis, "I mustn't have heard you."

"Are you going to come here to apologise to me properly?"

Adrien tried to breathe in, but found his lungs unable to work properly. He found himself blinking rapidly, and looking back down to his book, "I was just at an exciting part…"

He swallowed, finding his mouth dry. Everything was quiet. He heard the wood in the fireplace crackle, and the chimes outside his bedroom window, on the other side of the house, blowing in the wind. He heard, and felt, his father come closer to him, a man with power intimidating a boy with none.

"Adrien. I want you to come with me."

Then, Adrien looked into his father's eyes, and shuddered. He was so angry, it was barely contained within him. Adrien felt he might burst, or combust. He almost saw heat radiating off of his body, and his eyes burned like bon fires.

"N-No," Adrien said, before clearing his throat, "No."

Gabriel breathed in slowly, through his nose, "No?"

Adrien, again, found his mouth dry, "No."

Gabriel's eyelids flickered slightly, and then they closed, and when he opened them again, his expression was more neutral. He looked bored, not angry. Without a word, Gabriel turned, and left the room.

Adrien stared after him for a while, or almost, what felt like an eternity. He was in a state of shock, unable to feel relieved or gratified or proud of what he had done.

After ten minutes of staring into the darkness, Adrien loosed a long breath, the first one that wasn't jagged. He let the tension leave his shoulders.

Then he heard footsteps coming from the hallway,

and saw his father walking towards him so quickly he was almost running,

and he was upon him with a belt that stung –

and Adrien slammed his book shut and threw it at him scrambling off the couch and turning to run –

But Gabriel was faster –

His father was so close –

So was the door –

Something was pulling on his shirt –

Please, God, no –

 _A hand is on my shoulder I'm trying to get free I'm trying so hard I'm scrambling and scratching at it but then another hand is grabbing my waist and I'm being lifted off the ground –_

 _And now I'm screaming and Natalie can hear and she's running down the stairs but she stops when she sees what it is –_

 _And I look at her and she looks at me and I'm shrieking for help but she's frozen in fear –_

 _And he drags me away kicking and punching and flailing into his Godforsaken room and he throws me to the ground and he kicks me in the ribs, hard, before I can race to my feet again –_

 _He hits me again and again and I'm yelling out in pain –_

Behind the sound of his rushing ears, and the pounding of his heart, Adrien can hear someone yelling in anger, but barely.

Natalie, standing on the staircase, still frozen, eyes wide, staring after the sound, can hear what the man was yelling.

"Thank GOD YOU GAVE ME A REASON TO DO THIS, ADRIEN."

He hit him, bringing his belt down from above.

"THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU."

With each set of words came another punch or kick or hit, followed by a groan or a yell or plead.

No one in the neighbourhood heard them. No one in Paris knew.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was in her room, with headphones on, listening to pop music.

Alya Cesair was playing Mario Kart with her family, yelling about blue shells.

Nino Lahiffe was on the phone to his grandmother, chatting about plans to come up for Christmas seeing as school was on break soon.

Lila Rossi was smiling down at her little brother, standing in front of a store window where his favourite candies were being made right in front of him.

The next day, Marinette pondered after Adrien's absence. "Alya?"

"Mmm?"

"Where's Adrien?"

"Oh, dunno, maybe he's sick? It is getting colder…"

"Yeah… Maybe…"

Marinette couldn't tell what it was that drove her need to ask for more than that. She simply felt as if something was off, and Adrien being away made her feel even more uneasy.

He wasn't there the next day, either, and at lunch, the now only four of them sat at the table, talking about Christmas plans.

"Well, my grandparents were thinking of flying up here to see us, yeah, but other than that…" Nino was talking with Lila.

Marinette asked Alya, again, "Where is he? He hasn't contacted anyone."

Alya, knowing who Marinette was talking about, without having to be told, said, "Listen, honey, he's probably got the flu or something and doesn't want to be disturbed. Or, he doesn't want to disturb us. He's ridiculously chivalrous, you know."

"Well, not really." Lila piped in.

"Yeah he is!" Nino defended. Lila had a counter ready, but he waved her off, turning towards Alya and Marinette, "Actually, he _did_ text me. I asked him if he was all good and if he wanted me to come over or anything, but he was all 'nah nah man I'm all good I'm just sick don't come here you'll catch it' kinda thing."

"See!" Alya backhanded Marinette's arm lightly, "He's fine, he's just got a cold."

"Well…" Nino started again, "The way he made it sound, he isn't even going to be out of bed for the next few days."

"Oh…" Alya said, shoulders drooping, "Is he… okay?"

Nino started going into the details of their texting conversation, showing Alya and Lila the messages so they could help analyse their meaning to figure out the severity of his illness. Marinette was zoning most of it out, her head filling with all the possible worst outcomes for how Adrien might die from the illness and that she'd never get to see him again.

She took her own phone out, and typed out a little message.

 _Marinette: Hey, you okay?_

She always used proper punctuation and spelling in text messages, it was a pet peeve of hers.

A minute later, her phone vibrated in her hand.

 _Adrien: Yeah, why?_

She frowned. Was he trying to pretend he hadn't been off the radar for two days straight?

 _Marinette: You've been out of school for a while, that's all…_

 _Adrien: Oh, that, yeah I asked Nino to tell you guys I was sick didn't he tell you?_

 _Marinette: He did, but only just now, so I wanted to ask you myself too_

 _Adrien: Haha wow you're way too nice, Marinette  
Adrien: Like, super nice_

 _Marinette: Hah not that much  
Marinette: But are you okay?_

 _Adrien: I'm fine, Mari  
Adrien: Don't come here, though  
Adrien: I'm good tho_

Marinette frowned at her phone, typing her next message a few times before deciding on the simplest one.

 _Marinette: Why?_

Adrien responded very quickly.

 _Adrien: Because you'll catch whatever I have, silly_

At that moment, the bell rang. Alya, Lila and Nino began packing up their lunch items, ready to make the journey back to the classroom. Marinette sat down for a while as they started to make their way over, and she frowned at her phone again.

 _Marinette: The bell rang, I'll talk with you later :)_

 _Adrien: Okie dokie :)_

Adrien, in the darkness of his bedroom, with no lights on save for the glaring light from his phone, sighed into the dark. "Saved by the bell."

That night, Marinette had a war with her phone. She checked it, and there were a few messages in group chats, and one from Alya.

She found her charger, plugged into the wall by her desk, and brought it up into her little bed-nook. She plugged it into the socket her parents had specifically told her not to use, but she ignored that rule, because she couldn't very well leave her phone down there, she'd have to get up to get it when she figured out the perfect message to send Adrien expressing how worried she was but without doing it in a way that suggested she had any liking towards him whatsoever because _hello_ she liked Lila didn't she and –

Her phone pinged.

 _Lila: Hey_

Marinette smiled. A few nights in a row now, Lila would message her and they'd talk into the smaller hours of the night.

 _Marinette: Hey_

 _Lila: Are you already in bed?_

 _Marinette: Yeah_

 _Lila: What are you wearing ;)_

 _Marinette: Hahaha, nice try_

 _Lila: Hehehe_

 _Marinette: Are you in bed?_

 _Lila: Nah, I'm in the couch outside my room in the living room_

 _Marinette: When will you be in bed?_

 _Lila: Eager, aren't we?_

 _Marinette: rawr_

 _Lila: Oh god no hahah  
Lila: And in about five minutes_

 _Marinette: k_

 _Lila: HORROR, I'VE BEEN 'K'D_

 _Marinette: WHO DID THIS TO YOU_

 _Lila: A FAIR MAIDEN, ALWAYS TEASING ME_

 _Marinette: She sounds AWFUL_

 _Lila: Ahh, she's not that bad_

 _Marinette: No?  
Marinette: It sounds like she's not truthful to you_

 _Lila: Well, she does seem rather conflicted_

 _Marinette: Oh. Over what?_

 _Lila: Well, I've liked her from the moment I met her. But she has liked this other guy that hadn't liked her back, but, I think he's starting to like her now…_

 _Marinette: You think so?_

 _Lila: Yeah  
Lila: Honestly, I'm a little worried she might start to only pay attention to the guy and forget about me_

 _Marinette: Well, why would she bother with the guy that hadn't noticed her until now if there's someone who liked her from their first meeting_

Lila didn't respond for a while, and Marinette wondered if she had gone too far with the flirting. They'd been doing it for a few nights though, so she thought it wouldn't be that bad…

 _Lila: Well, that's what the best outcome would be for me, anyway_

 _Marinette: It seems to be, yes_

 _Lila: Mari?_

 _Marinette: Yeah?_

 _Lila: I do want a response  
Lila: You know, to what I kinda didn't say  
Lila: Please tell me you could read between the lines  
Lila: I mean, technically you said it, but…_

 _Marinette: Not saying I read between the lines correctly, but I did read between the lines  
Marinette: And I will get back to you  
Marinette: I just need a little more time_

 _Lila: Not long, I hope_

 _Marinette: I hope that I will figure it out soon too_

The conversation drifted on and off, turning back on when someone thought of something funny to say to the other. They did play games, like truth or dare, or 20 questions. They only asked actual questions, though.

Favourite colour, favourite movie, favourite ice cream flavour. It was more of a guessing game, they knew most of those things already.

Nearing the end of the conversation, another message pinged from someone else. Marinette swiped out of her and Lila's conversation, and found a little blue speech bubble next to Adrien's name.

She clicked it.

 _Adrien: Hey_

Marinette felt her stomach do something funny, and she swallowed.

 _Marinette: Hi_

 _Adrien: Sorry, it's really late_

 _Marinette: It's fine, I was awake anyway_

 _Adrien: Lmao, why?  
Adrien: It's a school night, missy_

 _Marinette: Hahah I was talking to people_

 _Adrien: Oh  
Adrien: Who?_

 _Marinette: Lila_

 _Adrien: What about, lol_

Marinette was confused as to why he cared, but she typed out a response.

 _Marinette: Well, I was saying mint chocolate chip was her fav last time I checked but she's saying it was boysenberry_

 _Adrien: Aw, cute_

Something felt off, again.

 _Marinette: Are you okay?_

 _Adrien: Lmao, yeah, why_

 _Marinette: Idk you just seem kinda funny atm_

She threw in a few acronyms to try and sound a little more laid-back about it than she was. Adrien, sitting alone in a huge bed in the dark, was well aware that Marinette hated acronyms, and would only use them when she was faking. He knew she was worried, and his heart gave a little flop.

Meanwhile, Lila was wondering if she had said something wrong and taken the argument of hers and Marinette's too far. She sent around twenty messages, spamming Marinette with gibberish to bring her back, before saying;

 _Lila: If you don't come back, I'll send you a pic  
Lila: A naughty one_

Marinette, still trying to subtly get Adrien to tell her what was wrong, didn't look at the message in time. Lila, fully aware of what she was doing, and (trying to turn the length of how long a photo was on Marinette's screen for down to the lowest possible, accidentally flicked one too far, and made it stay for as long as Marinette wanted it there), sent a photo of herself wearing a skimpy top half of a bra.

She had long since moved from the living room to her bedroom. The lighting from her bed was low, making her stomach look even flatter and more muscular than it already was, and emphasising the shape of her chest.

She took a couple, discarding them as she went, until she got the perfect one – on an angle, with her mouth in a sideways smirk just visible in the top left corner. She sent it, satisfied, and went to bed, plugging her phone in.

Marinette was still talking with Adrien, having almost completely forgotten her previous conversation with Lila, despite Adrien asking after how Lila was and what Lila was up to and how interesting that was.

She realised she hadn't looked at her conversation with Lila for a while, and saw a photo available on it. She tapped it, and dropped her phone. She felt herself blush to the tips her ears, and left the phone there, thinking the photo would disappear after a while, but realised it wouldn't.

She was shaking as she went to pick it up. On one hand, she really didn't want to get rid of that photo. It was insanely hot. Marinette tried hard not to react physically. She shook her head, and tapped away, reading the spam and the final message.

She typed a chastising reply.

She swiped out of their conversation to the photos, then zoomed out into a location finder on the app. She found Lila, at her home. She found Adrien, also at his home. She found Nino at his hip-hop dance room, probably practicing for some upcoming event. Max was at his home, Chloe and Sabrina were at a club…

She then went back into the camera mode, and found herself with a resting bitch face and obvious pores. She groaned, and adjusted it so she looked better.

She was wearing just her oversized university t-shirt that had once belonged to her dad. He had gotten it when his sister was going to uni as a joke, with the university logo on it.

She felt at her chest, wondering which bra she had on. It was her favourite bra. It was simple, but cute. White, lacey, but comfortable. It suited Marinette's body shape well, and she always thought she would looks best in that one, no matter what she wore over the top of it.

She slowly shimmied her shirt over her head, and sat up in bed. She looked down at herself, and thought, _No, sitting up won't do, I have little tummy rolls that way_ , so she lay back down, and her stomach smoothed out again.

She tried various positions to get the provocative look she wanted. She tried straight on, but found it to formal. She tried expressionless, but found it was way too emotionless.

The photo Marinette liked the best ended up being also one on an angle like Lila's, but with her eyes in it, as well. She was biting just the very tip of her finger with a grin, and, in the end, had grabbed a little headband with a pair of small, white cat ears on them that were hanging on the edge of her bed.

Her hair was out, fanning out underneath her head. Her chest looked amazing in the lighting, and she had to admit that her waist looked much smaller whenever she posed.

But, in the end, Marinette scoffed at herself. She would never have the guts to actually send something like that.

With her right thumb, Marinette tried to reach it over to the top left, to touch the _x_ button to delete the photo, but instead, the pad of the palm of her hand registered on the screen of the phone, and she hit the white arrow surrounded by a blue circle instead.

Fumbling to correct her mistake, she tapped the screen frantically, hitting a something random

 _Oh God what did I hit –_

And she was brought back to her chats screen, when she saw a little 'sent photo' symbol, next to the name of Adrien Agreste.

Adrien, in his room, having put his phone down after five minutes of no reply from Marinette, was almost overjoyed like a puppy to see that she had sent him something else.

He opened Snapchat with curiosity, and tapped on the little red square.

He made a sputtering sound. His face turned red. The photo didn't disappear.

 _Oh, God, Marinette is beautiful_

He stayed, staring at it for some time, before bringing his hand up to the screen above him, and registering that Marinette had been sending him chats as well. He, albeit reluctantly, tapped out of the photo, to a barrage of Marinette's messages.

 _Marinette: Oh my God  
Marinette: Adrien I'm so sorry I wasn't supposed to send that to you  
Marinette: I shouldn't have taken it in the first place  
Marinette: But I did and it was an accident I swear I meant to send it to Lila  
Marinette: Oh God that sounded awful she wasn't asking for it or anything it was more of a joke  
Marinette: We were just joking around and I wasn't even going to send it but I accidentally sent it to you I'm sorry  
Marinette: I'm so sorry  
Marinette: Adrien?_

 _Adrien: It's okay, Marinette, it's all good_

Marinette was more flustered than she had ever been in her life. In the end, she simply but her phone down, threw the cat ears away, and put her shirt back on, falling into her covers, face first, with a groan.

 **Gettin' friskay**

 **Poor Adrien**

 **If anything like that happens to you, contact someone immediately. Tell a family member, a friend, call a hotline or go to websites like beyongblue or kidshelpline, they'll help**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter**

 **Are you all excited for Christmas? Both irl and in the fic? Dunno how happy the Christmas cheer will be for Marinette :)**

 **\- C**


	5. A Sudden Resolution

**Shorter chapter, because I wanted to make sure y'all would get content frequently if not in large quantities.**

 **Merry Christmas by the way!**

The next afternoon, Marinette had gotten out of school, and run straight to the Agreste household.

Throughout the day she had been trying desperately not to talk too much to Lila. She could tell it was starting to make the girl frustrated, but when Lila asked about it, Marinette explained kindly and slowly that she just was having a bad day.

Lila nodded and apologised.

Marinette smiled and told her not to worry, and she pondered the expression Lila wore then, now, as she stood in front of the wrought iron gates of the house. They were open, because the snow was getting so heavy, and it made it difficult to open and close them frequently.

 _Lila had looked so sad. It was like she was resigned to a fate she had no control over, and she could only watch as it unfolded in the must awful way it possibly could. Marinette didn't understand why._

She walked up to the front door, a box of macaroons in hand, and knocked on the front door.

A moment later it was answered by a severe looking woman, with black hair and a red streak.

"I'm sorry, we normally keep the gates closed, if you're trying to find out about the personal life of either Mr Gabriel Agreste or his son Adrien Agreste then I would like you to –"

"Um –"

" – please leave immediately. If you are a reporter and you want me to make an appointment then please call my number –"

"N-No, miss, I, uh –"

" – which is available on the Gabriel Agreste website. Have a good evening –"

"MISS!" Marinette squeaked, covering her mouth afterwards. "I-I'm a friend of Adrien's, from school? I came over because…"

 _Why was she here? Well, she wanted to apologise for the photo, that's for sure, but she also was check up on him, so…_

"…well because I was worried about him. He hasn't been at school for a few days, and everyone knows the last week of the year is super fun…"

The woman pursed her lips even further, and Marinette swallowed. "And, uh, macaroons…" She waved the little box around a bit, careful not to hurt the biscuits.

The lady seemed to frown. She opened the door wide enough for Marinette to come in, and she felt a wave of heat from the inside hit her, and followed her instincts to go where the heat was.

Inside, her beanie, gloves and scarf were taken off her and hung up somewhere to dry. Her jacket was taken as well, and her shoes and socks. They gave her slippers to walk around in instead.

She was warm, and taken care of. She was peaking around corners to catch glimpses of the large, cavernous rooms in the huge house. She had seen some of it before, but not all of it.

"Natalie." Marinette heard the woman say from behind her.

"P-Pardon?" Marinette asked.

"My name is Natalie."

"O-Oh! I'm Marinette."

The woman looked down upon her. Marinette felt there was no other way to describe the scrutiny she felt she was under when considering the woman's gaze. She wanted to shrink into a ball, and leave. But, she remembered why she had come. Adrien. If she was too scared to get past the lobby she doubted she would be brave enough to see Adrien bed-ridden.

 _Adrien even anywhere near a bed would let my imagination run wild enough thank you very much –_

She gritted her teeth, and Marinette saw the woman's attitude change, and soon, she was being lead up the stairs, being given an explanation that Adrien was very busy and his father was out at the time and he would be back soon and would want to spend quality time with his son, so she would not have much time with Adrien –

And before Marinette knew it, Natalie was opening the door to Adrien's room for her, shoving Marinette inside, and closing it behind her again.

Marinette squeaked and stumbled, nearly falling over but stopping herself.

"Hello?" She heard Adrien's voice in the dark.

"Oh my god Adrien I'm so sorry, your manager cleaner lady assistant woman person Natalie brought me in and shut the door and it's so dark I can't see hang on…" She grappled about around the door frame, trying to find the light switch, before she heard sheets rustling frantically and Adrien saying, "Wait, Marinette, don't turn the light on –"

But she had flicked it, and turned to him, and only saw the back of his head, as he was saying, "Turn it off! Marinette, turn the light off!"

"U-UHM OKAY."

She yelled, turning it back off, sending them back into darkness.

 _Well, that was an awkward start._

There was a pause, and Marinette could hear Adrien's breathing. "Listen, Adrien, I just wanted to come over to apologise again for that stupid photo, I'm so sorry that I sent it to you, you probably think I'm really irresponsible and rude and slutty now and I'm so embarrassed and I'm just sorry, okay?"

"Marinette, don't apologise, it's okay, really, it was an accident." Adrien chuckled, but a little nervously, before adding, drily, "You meant to send it to Lila, anyway."

"Well, yes and no, I just…"

She realised the ridiculousness of their conversation and its circumstances, and decided a subject change was on the cards.

"Apologising wasn't the only reason I came here, I also wanted to see how you were."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You've been sick, remember?"

"Well, yeah, but not for that long or anything."

"I can leave, if you want me to –"

"No, don't do that."

Marinette blinked into the darkness a few times at the tone in his voice. Something was really wrong with him. He sounded scared.

"Adrien, are you really okay? You sounded a little funny last night and the previous few days, telling us not to come here…"

On second thought, Adrien didn't sound sick at all. He sounded a little tired, but not ill. And, there weren't any filled bins of tissues or anything from the glimpse of the room she had gotten…

"In the end I wanted to come and see if you were okay myself…"

"Marinette, I'm fine."

"Are you sure, I mean, you don't sound too sick, is the cold going away?"

"Hah, yeah, you could say that." Adrien chuckled, the sheets moving around again, and a dimmer light flickering on.

She turned, and saw barely a silhouette of Adrien, pointing a remote towards some fake candles on the other side of the room, turning them on with a button.

She slowly moved closer to his bed.

"What's with the lights?" Marinette finally found the courage to ask.

"I just… I don't look all that great right now." Adrien supplied.

Marinette would have scoffed, had she not wanted to embarrass him. "You're sick, I didn't expect you to look ready for a photoshoot or anything."

Adrien laughed a little, "Yeah, well, it's a little worse than that."

From the candlelight, she could hardly see him. It was faint, but she could just outline his features. There seemed to be something wrong with his skin tone, though. It seemed almost… splotchy. But, that couldn't be possible. Adrien's skin was always smooth and monotoned, as if he had gotten a spray tan.

"Adrien, I uh…" She started, moving a little closer to the bed, "I brought macaroons."

He let out a breathy laugh, "Good. I could use some Dupain-Cheng pastries right about now."

He held his hands out towards her, indicating her wanted her to hand him the macaroons. But, he was kind of far off to the other side of the bed, so she knelt on the edge of it to hand him the box.

She propped her knee right on the lip, and placed the box in his hands as he said thank you, smiling. She could hear the smile in his words.

Closer, Marinette blinked a few times.

 _Are those…? No… Bruises?_

She froze, and stared at him. He wasn't wearing a shirt, something that before may have made her flush, but now made her just horrified. Because even in the dark, she could see the shapes of them. Some brown, some green, some yellow. A few on his ribs were more reddish in tone.

She staggered away, fumbling to turn the light on while he was distracted with the macaroons, and he was too late to tell her not to turn the light on.

It ended with Adrien, sitting up in bed, reaching to her, all his visible skin blooming in all shades, Marinette standing by the door, her mouth open and her eyes wide.

"Oh my God…"

"Marinette…"

"Adrien, who… what happened?"

"I'm fine, really, it isn't as bad as it looks."

"Who did this to you? Did you get in a fight or something or did you…"

"Marinette, I'm okay, don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it? Don't worry about _what_? _What_ are these, Adrien?" She felt herself move onto the bed, rather than chose to do it herself. She tucked her feet up underneath her, and brought her hands to his face.

"Who did this?" She asked again, her fingertips dancing on his skin. It was clear the bruises were starting to go down. There was not much swelling, and the most of them were a green or blue hue.

He stared into her eyes. Her big, blue eyes, so wide and caring and with so much room in them for others.

He felt his eyes start to water. "My father."

Marinette froze, and then she started crying as well. A constant stream of tears ran down their faces. Neither of them were sobbing, they were just crying. Marinette ran her hands all over his torso, as if she had a miraculous power to return everything to the way it should be.

She eventually realised what she was doing after she stopped shaking, and her arms fell onto the bed.

"Adrien… I…"

"It's alright, Mari."

"No, no, no it isn't! This isn't alright, Adrien!" She was close to sobbing now, "This isn't okay! Have you called the police or, surely Natalie would have heard about this or _someone_!"

He grabbed her hands out of their fluttering, and clasped them in his own. "I can't tell the police."

"Why not?"

He made a choked expression, "He's my father."

Marinette's eyes widened even further, "That's no excuse! He does awful things to you, just tell them what he's done!"

"I can't _do_ that Marinette!"

"Why not?" She was almost yelling, and she would have been worried about someone hearing them had she not been so solely focused on Adrien.

"He's all I have left! He's everything!" Adrien tried to yell but his voice was starting to become hoarse, "I have nothing if I don't have him!"

He started sobbing, his body racking with jagged inhales and sniffs, and sounds of pain and sadness in between.

Marinette wrapped her arms around his head and neck, pushing his face into her chest, burying her fingers into his hair. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and cried.

"It's okay… Now we can work it out together, can't we? I'm here, Adrien, it's okay."

She murmured soothing words as she held him tighter, and kissed his head of hair. "It's okay. You're not alone, Adrien. Not alone."

They stayed that way for a while, Marinette working all the knots out of his hair while he stayed and cried.

She felt something happen inside her. Something like a see-saw, with two kids on either side, each one pushing off with their legs harder and harder each turn they got. Then, suddenly, one of them had disappeared, leaving the see-saw completely out of balance. The competition was over between the two.

"Hey, Adrien?"

He tried to sniff subtly, "Yeah?"

"Are you still coming to the Christmas Eve Party in a few days?"

He chuckled a little, and managed to move closer to Marinette, even when they were pressed so far up against one another, "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Or for a dad?"

She felt him sigh, "Not even for a dad like mine."

After fifteen minutes, Marinette had walked out of the Agreste household feeling as if she had gotten everything she needed, but failed to gain any of the things she had set out to.

Her heart had been balancing inside her, teetering on the edge of tipping one way or the other. It had made her want to cry at random times.

Seeing Adrien like this had only made her love him more. He had been so successful his entire life, despite how disgusting his childhood was. He had managed to endure something he never should have had to endure, and still hold onto some naïve hope that his father would become his father again.

Waking home, Marinette tucked her chin underneath her scarf.

 _I'm going to save Adrien Agreste._

She smiled.

 _Because I love him._

Then her smile fell when she looked up, and saw who was standing just inside the doorway of the bakery. A pretty brunette with dirty green eyes and a perfect smile.

With Marinette's parents not actually in Paris anymore, the only people who were allowed to go inside the bakery while Marinette wasn't there were her close friends. She had received a message from them the day before, saying that they would be out of the city for another four days. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing day and the day after. Marinette would spend Christmas alone.

Lila saw Marinette, and waved at her. Marinette waved back, before stepping into the bakery, and being blasted with a wave of heat. She shrugged of her coat and gloves and beanie as Lila walked over to her.

"Hey."

Marinette sighed when she looked at Lila, and her stomach, this time, did not do any little backflips. "Hi Lila."

"So, what happened with you today?" Lila tried to make it sound casual, but Marinette could hear how anxious she was underneath it.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, I just…" Marinette struggled. Was she supposed to answer the sort of thing she had started in the diner, and tell Lila right now that she didn't like her? Or was she supposed to take more time to wait to understand her feelings better?

 _No… I'm decided. I just… I don't know how to tell her._

"Lila, first of all, let me just ask, have you been waiting here since the end of school?"

"W-Well!" Lila stammered, "Okay, you just run of without saying anything even to Alya or Nino, and don't even bother texting us. Meanwhile, Mister White Privileged Male Agreste stopped answering his phone when Nino was trying to contact him all of a sudden, and we were all so worried about the two of you –"

"Don't call him names like that." Marinette said, automatically. She said it like she was talking to Chloe, picking fun on Max and calling him a geek or a nerd. Suddenly, Lila's good looks weren't charming, they were manipulative. Her beautiful skin made Marinette envious not admiring. Everything Marinette had liked about her suddenly seemed unattractive.

 _Just because she said one bad thing?_

Lila blinked a few times. "Okay, I won't," She frowned a little, but continued, "Anyway, and I wanted to know if you were okay, so…"

Marinette tried to find it in her to be civil. She couldn't. She had spent the last half an hour cradling Adrien and his bruised body, and she wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it.

"Lila, I'm just really tired." She said, slowly, but monotonously.

"Oh." She responded, any humour or happiness draining from her face.

"Yeah. Look, are you still going to the little Christmas Eve party that Alya planned last minute?"

"As far as I'm aware, yes."

"Good. I'll see you then."

She opened the door and held it there, grabbing what was clearly Lila's hat and jacket off of the hat stand. Lila took them gingerly, and stepped outside, slipping them on. She turned to look behind her, but Marinette was already walking away.

Marinette took her phone out of her pocket, and found Adrien on Snapchat.

 _Marinette: Hey_

He responded quickly, no doubt because he had nothing much else to do.

 _Adrien: Hi_

 _Marinette: Wanna talk?_

 _Adrien: Sure_

She climbed into bed after getting changed, and talked with Adrien until 1am. They talked about nothing and everything, and sent each other photos of themselves with the silliest filters, or the ugliest faces, or the funniest captions.

She finally said goodnight to him, and fell back onto the pillow, a new resolution built sturdily in her heart.

 **Did you enjoy?**

 **Marinette has finally decided, but she's definitely not letting Lila down as easily as she could be...**

 **I haven't written any other chapters, though I have written a guide for them, sO I know the general direction this is going to go in, but not the details of it.**

 **Y'all enjoying? Have a Merry whatever you celebrate at this time of year!**

 **\- C**


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